“We fought on, of course, with our hellfire and black blades, but without our leader…” He’d lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “The battle ended in our surrender, for what is heaven if not merciful?” His voice had been thick with bitterness. “Both sides agreed that someone had to stay to watch over Abaddon’s body, and I loved him so well that I volunteered.”

She had not expected that. “You chose to stay?”

“I was loyal and could not fathom leaving him behind.”

“And you are still here?”

He’d drunk from the glass of bourbon at his side. “Ever vigilant.”

She had not meant to ask, but she had to know. “Do you wish to return to hell someday?”

His crimson eyes had dimmed. “What is hell to me now but a memory? Who can say if I am even welcome after all this time?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she had assured him. “Goetia is your home now, and you have me.”

He had looked at her, long and contemplative, and said, “I have you, Celeste.”

She had not understood then what she knew now, that in that moment, he had made a choice. And she had repaid his loyalty with cruelty.

“Celeste?”

Now she shook herself from her reverie and turned back to a waiting Mariel.

“Are you okay?”

She smoothed a hand across her skirts and took a deep breath. “I’m fine.”

Mariel smiled, but she looked nervous.

“Do you remember that baby bird you caught when we were small?” Celeste asked, thinking to distract her.

“What?”

“That bird. You petted it, and its feathers came off. And you were so distraught that you sobbed and sobbed, and I had to give you warm milk and put you to bed to calm you down.”

Mariel’s mouth turned down. “You thought I was crying about a bird?”

“Weren’t you?”

Mariel laughed, a harsh sound. “I plucked those feathers off, thinking to give them to you, like a present. But you gave me this look, like I was a monster. That’s what spooked me. I didn’t care a fig about that bird.” She shook her head. “I cared about you. What you thought of me.”

Celeste stared, stunned.

“It died, you know,” Mariel said. “I’d crushed it, not on purpose, but I went back to bury it, worried that you’d see it, but a hawk or something must have gotten it, ’cause I never did find the body. Just a bit of blood and feathers.”

“Are you ready?” A Virtue stood holding the door to the trial chamber open.

Mariel nodded. “Let’s go.”

He released her shackles and led them in.